Bubblegum's Struggle
by AlphaHikari
Summary: Bubblegum's place in the Candy Kingdom has been taken by a robot and she needs help from Marceline to get it back. With everyone else thinking that the robot is the real princess, can she take back her throne and her kingdom?


Bubblegum POV

I created her so that she would love him since I could not. I never thought that things would turn out like this. How could my creation turn out like this? Just what did I do wrong? What did I not calculate? I need to think back and figure this all out. More importantly, I need to stop her. I need help.

Things have really gone too far this time. My P-bot is out of control. She's forced me out of my own kingdom, taken my place, and fooled all of my citizens. She is so much like me that I really can't fault them for not being able to tell the difference. Even Finn thinks that P-bot is me.

There is only one person that I can turn to for help, but I really hate the thought of going to _her. She _is the bane of my existence. Always trying to pick a fight with me, accusing me of trying to be perfect, and anything else _she_ can do to ruin my mood. _Marceline the Vampire Queen _ is definitely not someone I like to deal with, but I really have no choice this time.

It's been two days since I was thrown out of the Candy Kingdom by P-bot. I spent the first day formulating a plan to stop her while I was camped out in the forest, and the second day traveling to Marceline's cave while debating whether or not this was a good idea. I arrived at the cave's entrance and pause for a moment. "Come on, Bubblegum," I said to myself, "If you want to get your Kingdom back, you need to do this."

I walk into the cave and it looks just the same as the last time I was in here. It's still dark, damp, and creepy. Once I venture further in though, I come to her cottage. It sticks out by being so homey and inviting compared to the place it sits in. _If Marceline could learn to be as homey and inviting as her cottage, then maybe we could get along better, _I thought.

I knock on her door and wait. I didn't hear any sign that she heard me knock or is attempting to come to the door. _Maybe she didn't hear me. I should try to knock again._ My hand goes up and is in the motion of knocking when the door swings open.

"Glob it! That hurt!" Marceline growls at me. I have effectively punched her in the nose. Even if it was an accident, I really can't say that I feel sorry about it, but I'll say it anyway.

"Sorry. I didn't know if you heard me knock the first time."

"Well I did. Now what do you want, Bonni? I'm not really in the mood to deal with people today so make it quick."

"I need your help. Can I come in because it's going to take a while to explain."

She sighs but lets me in anyway. Her house is messy with clothes strewn about here and there. There are some dirty dishes left in her sink and remnants of once red fruits are sitting on her couch. I sweep them out of the way before having a seat and waiting on her to get comfortable. I don't have to wait long since she just reclines in the air and gives me a look signaling for me to start.

"Like I said earlier, I need your help, Marceline. One of my creations has gone haywire and you may be the only one who can stop her."

_Two days ago_

_ I had some free time in my schedule so I decided to spend it in my lab conducting research on what I called the Little People. Earlier in the week I came across a sack filled with miniature versions of the people in OOO and I wanted to know what made them tick. No matter how I prodded at them it was like they couldn't feel it. I took to making specific events happen to them to see how they react. Various notes were compiled but none of what I had written brought me any closer to an answer._

_ I was in the process of separating Finn and Jake when the lab door flew open. P-bot was standing in the entrance grinning madly. She strode over to me and peered at what I was doing. I didn't know why she was here and not with her suitor, but since I had created her, I wasn't as concerned as I should have been._

_ P-Bot swung her arms onto the desk where I had decided to place the Little People. They didn't stand a chance as she crushed them. "P-Bot! What are you doing?!" I yelled._

_ "It's not what I'm doing, but what I'm going to do that should concern you. I'm taking over as princess starting today."_

_ "You're crazy if you think that I'm going to let that happen," I said. I needed to stop her. The only way I can do that is to shut her down or force her to short circuit. Easier thought that done though._

_ "Call me what you want, but I'm still taking over."_

_ P-bot struck at me faster than I was able to react. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was her grinning face. I woke up sometime later in the Forest._

"And that's what happened. P-bot is out of control and I need to shut her down before things get too out of hand." I finish telling my story of what happened and look over to Marceline. She is still in the same position as before but the expression on her face has changed. She looks as if she is in deep thought.

"Isn't P-bot that thing you created for some suitor of yours?" She finally asks.

"She is. I created her to only think about and be with him. Something I knew that I wouldn't be able to do."

"Ok, well if she came back and kicked you out, then what happened to the guy she was supposed to be with?"

That was a good question. It was something that I had not thought about myself. P-bot was meant to be with Braco at all times. For her to come back to the Candy Kingdom, what could that mean? What happened to Braco? "I don't know. I didn't see him with P-bot when she came back."

"Ok, so you have a rogue robot, a missing suitor, what looks to me like no weapons? You're asking for a lot of help, Bonni."

"Will you help me or not?"

"Sure, I'm game. Sounds like a rad adventure and I might get to destroy stuff during it. I don't see why not. So, just how do we go about stopping your look alike?"

"We need to sever the neurological signals being transmitted to the rest of her body. If you can immobilize her, I can completely shut her down and perform diagnostic tests on her system to see why she malfunctioned."

"So I just need to stop her movement and you need to turn her off?"

"Precisely."

"Easy enough. Do you want to do this today or should we wait until tomorrow? You look like you need a rest anyway, but it's up to you." Marceline states. I know I'm tired because the stress of the situation is finally getting to me. My subjects aren't in any imminent danger from P-bot so I may as well rest for now.

"Let's go tomorrow."

"Cool. So, um, if you want you can shower and sleep in my room. I'll find some clothes for you while you in the bathroom and leave them on the bed. And you won't have to worry about me not having anywhere to sleep since it's already dark out. I'll just be down here probably fooling around with my base or some junk."

We head up the ladder to her room and I enter the bathroom. This is the first time in days that I have been able to relax and I enjoyed every moment of it. I ran a hot bath and slid into the water, letting the heat soak into my skin and relax my muscles. Marceline has both strawberry scented shampoo and body wash. I should have known since strawberries are her favorite red food. I hope she understands if I use some of this stuff.

After I finished I changed into the white tee and blue shorts she had laid out for me, and hopped into bed. The clock on the nightstand read 9:51 pm in neon red light. No matter what I tried, I could not force myself to sleep. If I couldn't sleep, then I might as well find something else to do. I get out of Marceline's bed and slide down the ladder. Marceline didn't notice me come out so I stood by the ladder and listened to her sing. She sang the same song that she made when we dealt with the Door Lord.

_La da da da da_

_I'm gonna bury you in the ground_

_La da da da da _

_I'm gonna bury you in my sound_

_I'm gonna drink the red from your pretty pink face_

_I'm gonna_

I listened as the tune changed. Marceline isn't one for showing her emotions, but whenever she plays her base, it's like she lets herself go. She let's all her feelings come through in her songs. It was always interesting to me just how different she is when she sings.

_Sorry I don't treat you like a goddess_

_Is that what you want me to do?_

_Sorry I don't treat you like you're perfect_

_Like all your little loyal subjects do_

_Sorry I'm not made of sugar _

_Am I not sweet enough for you?_

_Is that why you always avoid me?_

_I must be such an inconvenience to you!_

That was never how I felt about her. Yes, she may not be one of my closest friends or someone I see all the time, but it doesn't mean that I thought of her as an inconvenience.

_We'll, I'm just your problem!_

_I'm just your problem_

_It's like I'm not even a person am I?_

_I'm just your problem_

She wasn't my problem. Not in my opinion, really. Marceline may have always played pranks on me and my citizens that caused problems, but she herself wasn't one of mine.

_Well, I-I-I-I-I shouldn't have to justify what I do_

_I-I-I-I-I shouldn't have to prove anything to you._

_I'm sorry that I exist_

_I forget what landed me on your blacklist but_

_I-I-I-I-I shouldn't have to be the one that makes up with you, so_

_Why do I want to?_

_Why do I want to_

_To bury you in the ground_

_And drink the blood from your_

She didn't finish the song. I'm beginning to think that it doesn't have an ending. She just sighed and sat there playing different tunes on her bass. Her back was turned to me so I quietly walked up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Grod, Bonni, you scared the heck out of me. How long have you been in here? I thought you were going to sleep."

"I tried but it didn't work. And I've been here since the beginning of that song you just played. Does it have an ending?"

"No," Marceline sighed, "I never thought of one for it so I just left it incomplete."

"Oh, but you do realize that that's not really how I feel about you, right? I know I don't often act or treat you like I want you around, but that's because either I'm busy with royal duties or some other junk like that."

"Yea, yea, I know. You don't have to tell me. I know all about that responsibility demands sacrifice biz. I'm a queen, remember?" She said as she gave me a toothy grin. "Anyway, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow. You should try to get some rest while you can."

Marceline guided me to the ladder and watched me go back into her room. This time I fell asleep with little effort.

Marceline POV

As soon as she was in my room I walked to the kitchen. I needed a snack and some time to think. In the fridge were some strawberries so I decided that those would just have to do for now.

Tomorrow, I'll head out with Bonni to save her kingdom from a robot. The robot she created for some creep that claimed to _love _her. It figures she would create something like that to be with someone because she can't. She should have just turned the guy down instead.

I'm out of strawberries so I leave the kitchen and go to chill on the couch and watch some old movies. Heat Signature is the best movie in my collection so I watched. Hours and another movie later, I hear Bonni get up and head to the bathroom. I take that as my queue to start getting ready.

I head into my room, look in my closet and grab my long gloves and sun hat. Then I go back down the latter to grab my bass. A few minutes later, Bonni is ready to go and we head out. I offer to carry her because we will get there quicker if we fly and she has no problem with the idea. We get to the Candy Kingdom pretty quickly with my speed and I set her down in on her balcony.

We need to be stealthy. If her citizens start to panic they might start to explode and that will alert P-bot. We don't need that to happen. I step in front of Bonni and peer into her bedroom. There is a shadow crouched low to the ground so I signal to Bonni to stay quiet and prepare for a fight.

Peppermint Butler POV

The princess has been working nonstop over the last few days. I'm beginning to worry about her health. I haven't seen her eat or sleep, but she doesn't even look tired. Something's wrong but I'm not seeing what. I'm thinking of ways to make the princess take a break and relax while I clean her room. I didn't notice the figures standing on the balcony, but I certainly noticed when they burst into the room and pinned me to the floor.

"Oh, it's just Pepbutt. What's up little guy?" Marceline asked me.

"I'm trying to clean. What are you doing here? You normally don't come around at this time of day."

"Oh, you know, just here to stop some robot version of Bonni and save your candy butts."

A robot princess? What is she talking about? Princess is in a meeting right now with the Duke of Nuts. "What are you talking about?" I ask as she lets me up and I notice the Princess standing behind her.

"Peppermint, do you remember P-bot? The robot me I built to love Braco has been fooling the Kingdom into thinking she is me for the last three days," says Princess, "We need to find her and shut her down quickly."

"Yea what she said. So where is she right now?" Asked Marceline.

"She is in a meeting with the Duke of Nuts, but it should be finishing up right about now," I say and lead the two monarchs into the hall. Now I know why the princess never felt tired or wanted food, that wasn't the princess at all, but a robot. The princess must think I'm a fool for not noticing that look-a-like wasn't her. "Princess, I offer you my humblest apologies. I should have noticed that the other princess was an imposter sooner. I'm afraid that I have failed you as your butler."

"Nonsense, Peppermint. I don't blame you for not knowing, after all, I did design P-bot to be exactly like me. She would have fooled anyone."

"Thank you, Princess," I said as we reached the room where P-bot was. I take hold of the doorknob and pull open the door. P-bot was seated at the head of the table reading over royal documents. The Duke of Nuts wasn't anywhere to be seen so we walked into the room and confronted her.

"P-bot, I think it's time you took a break," Princess starts, "something is wrong with you and I want to know what."

"And I see you brought a friend with you. I hope you know that it's going to take more than you, Peppermint Butler, and a girl to take me down Princess."

"I'm sure we can handle you. Peppermint, I want you to go hide. I don't need you getting hurt while we take care of her."

As soon as she said that I bolted for the door. Even if she told me to hide, I still wanted to see the fight so I left a crack in the opening so that I could peak in. P-bot flipped the table out of the way towards the right wall. All three were rushing at each other in an instant. Marceline swung her axe bass at the robot and Bubblegum disappeared behind the two.

P-bot ducked right before the axe could make contact with her neck. She came back with a right hook to Marceline's side that sent her flying into a chair. She didn't stay down for long though. She sprung at P-bot and tackled the robot to the floor. They rolled back and forward on the floor struggling for dominance. In the end, Marceline was on top. She was holding P-bot down by her upper arms and not having the best of times doing it.

"Bonni, come on! I can't hold this thing down for much longer. She's stronger than she looks, you know!"

"I'm coming!" She shouts as she runs over to them. I don't understand why she would be holding a glass of water during a fight, or even where she got it from, but I guess I'll know why soon enough. Princess crouched down and turned P-bot's head so that its side was facing her. Then she grabbed the water and poured all of it into her ear. P-bot started jerking about throwing Marceline off of her before she became utterly still. At this point I thought it was safe to enter the room again so I trotted over to the two ladies and stood beside them. "Is it over?Did you win?"

"Yes, we won this time. It definitely wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."

"Says the girl who didn't get punched into a chair," Marceline states. Now that I think about it, she did get hit pretty hard. She completely broke the chair.

"Anyway, Marceline, could you carry P-bot to my lab, please? Oh, and Peppermint if you don't mind, could you and the rest of the staff get this room cleaned up? Thanks."

They walk out and leave me with the mess. I guess I'll have the Banana Guards move the table back, and I take care of what used to be a chair myself. I won't complain about the work because it could have been worse.

**This is the first story that I've ever written outside of a school assignment. It turned out longer than I thought it would. Anyway I'll be looking forward to the reviews. I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of things I need help with and any advice would be great. **

**(I realize that I never explained what happened to Braco. Well P-Bot had locked him up in a dungeon shortly before she kicked out Princess Bubblegum, if anyone wanted to know.)**


End file.
